Almond Cheese: The prep and process

Cheese. A non-vegan friendly spread that I miss fairly often. UNTIL I DISCOVERED THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER. Nut cheeses. Yes that is right, you can make cheese out of nuts! Almonds, cashews, walnuts, pine nuts, even seeds! Today, I thought I'd share with you this awesome vegan cheese that even people who are not vegan will love.

I have made this recipe twice so far with almonds and cashews. Both I served to my parents and friends, and days after my dad kept asking for my NUT cheese, instead of his italian aged cheddar. Thats right, nuts take the win. I am breaking this recipe down into two blogs. This one will contain the prep steps and the processing of the cheese. Tomorrow I will post how to finish the cheese. Please note that this entire process will take you at least a day and a half, maybe more, depending on how you time it. I will also put the link for the video that taught me how to make nut cheeses!

Let's get started with..
1 1/2 cups of almonds - or any nut you desire!
Some water

First, the night before, put your almonds(etc) into a bowl and cover them with water so that they can soak. Nuts are very dehydrated, so you should actually soak your nuts (lol) all the time, so that they are easier for your body to breakdown and digest. The main reason we are soaking them here though is because they will be easier to blend up, and they will me MUCH easier to peel. Even if you are not using almonds, you should soak them so that when you blend them up they become a paste not a powder.

The next morning, drain your almonds and peel them. This is NOT hard! It is super easy, especially if you soaked them for 12 hours over night. Pinch the almonds and they will actually go flying across the room out of the peel- be careful!

Stick your almonds/nuts into a blender and add water so it is just covering the nuts.

Blend them up! You may need to add some more water if your blender gets stuck; don't worry if you do. Your nuts should turn into a nice paste.

Poor the paste onto a cheese cloth. Mine just so happens to be long and rectangular, so I poorer mine lengthwise. If yours is  square, poor it in the middle. Fold up the cloth so the cheese is covered. You will notice a white liquid seeping from the cloth. This is what we want to drain. Place your cheese into a strainer that is sitting in a bowl; make sure the bottom of the strainer is not touching the bottom of the bowl.

Stick something heavy on the cloth (I use jars) so that it speeds up the process. Stick it in a cupboard for 12 hours or more, so that the nut cheese can ferment and strain.

Read tomorrows blog for what happens next!

Always cheesy,
Julia

Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj5t-ln_bDI&feature=related